Alcohol and Drinking
Drinking “the Reason Civilization Exists” Some scholars believe that civilization would not exist if alcohol had not given early peoples a reason to settle in one place where they could make alcoholic beverages. Certainly, drinking is an important part of many cultures. To many, socializing over a couple of drinks is a cherished and enjoyable tradition, while others decry alcoholism as an unavoidable source of clumsiness and stupidity. Alcoholic drinks are commonplace at nearly any festival or tavern, and sometimes drinking is the focus of a game or competition. Like in real life, too much drinking in-game can make people sick and ruin their fun, but a little drunkenness can add to the merriment of all. Drink Sizes Servings of alcohol are measured in ‘shots.’ A ‘shot’ does not denote any real-world significance; rather, it is simply a convenient word to measure small volumes of liquid in game terms. The number of shots contained in various drinking vessels is as follows. * Shot glass/mouthful 1 * Small glass (cup) 2 * Mug/glass (pint) 4 * Wineskin (pint) 4 * Large Flagon (quart) 8 * Jug (two quarts) 16 * Large Pitcher (gallon) 32 * Keg (3 gallons) 96 * Small Barrel (10 gallons) 320 * Large Barrel (40 gallons) 1280 Drink Strengths The strength of the drink is measured on a scale, with 0 being no alcohol content, and 10 or higher being powerful beverages. The following table should not be regarded as a definitive list of drinks, but rather a rough guide to how to use Alcohol Strengths. You should make up your own drinks for your own campaign. * Water 0 * Weak Beer 1 * Regular Beer 2 * Wine 4 * Strong Wine 6 * Spirit 10 * Strong Spirit 12 * Dwarf Spirits 14 A drink’s total effect is measured in Alcohol Units (AU). The alcohol units of a given drink is the product of its number of shots times its strength. For example, a mug (4 shots) of wine (Strength 4) is a total of 16 AU. Game masters and players are encouraged to devise specific drinks for your campaign world. A sample list of drinks is provided in the appendix. Effect of Alcohol Alcohol is, basically, a poison. the more you drink, the greater effect it has. There are several levels of intoxication, each accompanied by penalties to certain abilities, and a slight bonus to resist pain. If you are using the wild spellcasting rules from Wild Spellcraft, then a spellcaster who fails a spell because of drunkenness causes a mishap. # Tipsy: Judgment slightly impaired, but no noticeable effects. -1 penalty to attack rolls, skill checks, ability checks, and Reflex saves. +1 Charisma base skill check. No effect on movement or hit points. Must make a Concentration check (DC 10 +spell level)* to cast spells or take similar actions. # Merry: Inhibitions lower, voices raise, and balance wavers slightly. -2 penalty to attack rolls, skill checks, ability checks, and Reflex saves. +2 Charisma base skill check. No effect on movement. Must make a Concentration check (DC 10 +spell level)* to cast spells or take similar actions. # Drunk: Dizzy and disoriented, words slurred. -4 penalty to attack rolls, skill checks, ability checks, and Reflex saves. +1 temporary hit points per hit die. Can safely take one partial action each round, but must make a Balance check (DC 10)* to both move and take an action. Falls down on a failure. Must make a Concentration check (DC 10 + spell level)* to cast spells or take similar actions. # Hammered: Can’t walk in a straight line, generally incoherent. -8 penalty to attack rolls, skill checks, ability checks, and Reflex saves. +2 temporary hit points per hit die. Can safely take one partial action per round, but must make a Balance check (DC 10)* to both move and take an action. Falls down on a failure. Must make a Concentration check (DC 10 +spell level)* to cast spells or take similar actions. # Plastered: Communication is nearly impossible, as is standing up. -16 penalty to attack rolls, skill checks, ability checks, and Reflex saves (though the character can take no actions, so it usually doesn’t matter). +3 temporary hit points per hit die (but usually unable to take advantage of this). He must make a Concentration check (DC 10)* to cast spells or take similar actions. Character is nauseated, and the only action he can normally take is a single move or move-equivalent action per round. A character who is plastered can, however, choose to take one partial action other than a movement, but is then stunned for the next 1d6 rounds. # Unconscious: Character is unconscious, usually from sickness or extreme dizziness and confusion. * Skill check penalty applies for this level of drunkenness as normal. Getting Drunk An average person’s Alcohol threshold is equal to his Constitution score, but this number can modified by several other factors. Any racial, magical, or class-based bonuses to resist poison add to this number, the Endurance feat adds +4 to this number, and the Hard Drinking feat doubles a character’s Alcohol threshold (Constitution score and all other modifiers are doubled). For each size category smaller than Medium-size that you are, your Alcohol threshold is reduced by half. For each size category larger, double your Alcohol threshold. For example, the Alcohol threshold of the average Halfling is only 5, whereas a Great Wyrm Red Dragon would have an Alcohol threshold of 496. Once you reach your Alcohol threshold, you become Tipsy. As you drink more, you progress through the various levels of intoxication, with a number of AU equal to your threshold increasing your drunkenness to the next category. For example, Seth has a Constitution of 14. He drinks two shots of whisky (12 AU each, total 24 AU). this exceeds his Alcohol threshold, so he becomes Tipsy. Another 4 AU will take him to 28, putting him in the Merry category. The game master may give a temporary bonus to a character’s alcohol threshold of up to +2 from various factors, such as a full stomach or magical enhancements. Drinking Too Fast A medium size character can drink 2 shots as a move-equivalent action. Double this number for each size category above Medium and halve it for each category below Medium as indicated in the table below. A character can drink double the amount indicated in a full round. Attempting to drink more than this in one go requires a Fortitude save (DC 10 +4 per extra multiple or part thereof). A failure means that the character cannot swallow fast enough, and a failure by 5 or more causes the character to also lose his action the next round from gagging. In most drinking contests, this automatically means that the character has lost. Additionally, sometimes an overdose of strong drink can shock a person’s system. If a character drinks too much too quickly, there is a danger of him passing out or getting sick right away. If a character drinks more AU than twice his Alcohol threshold in one round, he must make a Fortitude save (DC 20). If he fails the save, he either vomits out what he just drank, or falls unconscious (the GM gets to choose). For example, Seth continues drinking until he is Hammered. This category gives him a -8 penalty to most of his rolls and checks. He gets 8 hours of sleep and wakes the next morning with a hangover. He suffers a -8 penalty to various rolls and checks for 2 hours, then -4 for the next two hours, then only -2, and finally -1. After 8 hours, the ringing and buzzing finally goes away. Recovery & Hangovers A character recovers at a rate of 8 Alcohol Units per hour. Additionally, eight hours of uninterrupted sleep enables him to recover completely. A character who has become Drunk or higher suffers a hangover once he sobers up. A hangover consists of headaches, nausea and other unpleasant side effects. After recovering from drunkenness, a hangover begins. While hung over, a character suffers the same penalty to his attack rolls, skill checks, ability checks, and Reflex saves of the drunkenness category he reached the night before. Every two hours, the severity reduces by one category until the penalties go away. For example, Seth continues drinking until he is Hammered. This category gives him a -8 penalty to most of his rolls and checks. He gets 8 hours of sleep and wakes the next morning with a hangover. He suffers a -8 penalty to various rolls and checks for 2 hours, then -4 for the next two hours, then only -2, and finally -1. After 8 hours, the ringing and buzzing finally goes away.